Charles Town

Anyone from this area already knows the local-dudes-done-good story of O.A.R. Hailing from Rockville, they have made an international name for themselves through their occasionally reggae-influenced textures, jam band aesthetics and catchy pop hooks. The band will be performing at the Event Center at the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in Charles Town, West Virginia, on both Friday and Saturday, and we caught up with the band’s guitar player, Richard On, for 13 questions, including why they went to Ohio State University, their recent work with WWE and a new album they plan to release in 2019.

1. First, let’s start with you, and a little background. From what I understand, you came to the band not too long after Marc and Chris had already founded the project. Can you recall what brought you into O.A.R. and how everything came about?

Our musical roots together actually predates O.A.R. In eighth grade (1993), Marc and Chris approached me to play guitar in their band for the talent show. Under the name “Exposed Youth,” with a different bass player, we performed together for the first time playing a series of Pearl Jam and Eric Clapton covers. That’s when we first caught the rock-n-roll bug. As we entered high school, we disbanded and played in a bunch of different bands. Fast forward to 11th grade, Marc and Chris approached me again to come jam with a new bass player they found (Benj Gershman). When we got together, everything just clicked. The sound we made was fresh and exciting to me. I felt like I finally found something musical that I wanted to be a part of.

2. When did you initially pick up the guitar and why?

I picked up the guitar around 11 years old. Up until then, my aunt was teaching me piano lessons along with my older brother. He discovered Zeppelin, quit and started playing guitar. One day, he put headphones on me with the riff from “Black Dog” playing. He told me that you can’t sound like that on piano. The rest is history.

3. Who are some of your favorite guitar players? Was there anyone you tried to model yourself after as a player and why?

Of course the legends — Clapton, Hendrix, Page, Beck. Anything Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks play is always transcendent to me. There are also young guys like Mark Lettieri and Cory Wong who are doing unbelievable stuff in the funk world. Everything they play puts a smile on my face. As far as true influences on my playing, The Edge, John Fruciante and Robert Smith from The Cure really shaped my taste in melody and songwriting.

4. From what I understand, you attended Ohio State University. Why Ohio State and not, say, the University of Maryland?

Being one of the largest schools in the country with tons of bars and places to play, we simply saw more opportunity at OSU.

5. You guys have been together for more than 20 years now, and for the most part, the original lineup is in tact. What’s the secret to staying together for so long?

The original lineup has always been in tact, except that we’ve added Mikel Paris (keys, percussion, vocals) and Jon Lampley (trumpet, vocals) to our live show and studio recordings. The key to our longevity has always been based off of love, friendship and respect for each other.

6. You also have eight studio albums to your credit. Do you have a personal favorite and why?

“All Sides” is my personal favorite. We recorded it at the legendary Sound City Studios in Van Nuys with producer Matt Wallace. We were staying in Los Angeles, driving to the studio every morning and leaving well past midnight. We had three different recording rigs going at the same time so everyone was always writing, creating and recording. The whole process and environment was so inspiring. And to top it off, Metallica was recording across the parking lot with Rick Rubin!

7. You guys were recently part of a WWE event. How did that come about and can you talk a little about that experience as a whole?

They invited us down to Monday Night Raw to discuss and promote our partnership to raise funds and awareness for Connor’s Cure, which was created by Stephanie McMahon and Paul “Triple H” Levesque to support pediatric brain and spinal chord cancer research. Through our Heard The World Fund, a portion of every ticket sold on our Just Like Paradise tour will benefit Connor’s Cure, so know if you come to a show, you’re also supporting pediatric cancer research.

8. You guys are famously from Maryland. For you, personally, what’s the most Maryland thing about you?

I am a professional blue crab eater.

9.Being from the D.C. area, we know the Caps just won the Stanley Cup. Which title would mean the most to you for the next area champion — a Super Bowl from the Redskins, an NBA title from the Wizards or the World Series from the Nats?

I don’t really root for teams. I root for friends and the teams they happen to play on. Zim is a great guy and great player. I would love to see him win a World Series with the Nationals.

10. What are the three things you couldn’t tour without?

FaceTime, pictures that my kids draw me, and green tea.

11. From your travels, what’s the best meal you’ve encountered and from where is it?

We could probably do an entire interview strictly based on the best meals I’ve had in my travels. One that’s fresh in my head from a recent day off in Little Rock, Arkansas, is a Chinese noodle and dumpling place called Three Fold Noodles + Dumpling Co. I would have never thought “Little Rock” and “good Chinese food,” but their flavors were on point. Get the pork half and half bowl, which comes with noodles and dumplings, poison chili sauce and fried sesame balls if you have room for dessert.

12. You guys are playing the Hollywood Casino in Charles Town — what’s your favorite casino game?

You’d think me being in a band that has a song about poker, I’d be an avid gambler, but I don’t gamble out all. I lost $100 in a slot machine over 10 years ago and I’m still salty about it.

13. Finally, what’s next for O.A.R.? I know you guys released a new song earlier this year — is a new LP in the works after this tour is over?

We are currently writing and recording new music for a full length album to release next year. It is tentatively called “The Mighty.”

13 questions with Richard On of O.A.R. was last modified: August 8th, 2018 by Colin McGuire

Chase Rice took an unusual road to go from North Carolina farm boy to Nashville recording artist.

He went from playing college football, to NASCAR, to being a contestant on “Survivor,” to Nashville, to co-writing on Florida Georgia Line’s Diamond-certified smash “Cruise” (he and FGL’s Brian Kelley have been friends since they were kids in Florida, where Rice was born), to two independent albums, and finally a record label deal with Broken Bow Records. And he managed to win the hearts of music fans along the way with songs including “Ready Set Roll,” “Gonna Wanna Tonight” and “Three Chords and the Truth.”

“I thought it was going to be a No. 1 song,” Rice said of “Three Chords” in a recent phone interview. “You never know how radio is going to do. They’re being supportive of me and BBR is kicking it.”

Chase Rice will be kicking it at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Event Center at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in Charles Town, West Virginia. Tickets start at $45 with a special promotion: buy three, get one free.

“Three Chords and the Truth” was the first single from his latest album, “Lambs & Lions,” and a good back-to-radio song, Rice said. “Eyes on You” is the second single and, he noted, is moving up the charts faster than “Three Chords,” which is a tribute to the power of discovering the songs that changed his life (“Amazing Grace,” “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Mama Tried” among them).

It wasn’t an easy ride to get to where he is today. After releasing two independent albums, Rice was signed by a major label and released a full-length album, “Ignite the Night,” in 2014. But he sensed that the label he was on didn’t have the passion for his brand of music.

“When you don’t have that passion (and support), it’s like a cancer and you need to get rid of it. Get it out of my life,” he told his management team.

He wanted out of the deal.

“[The music label] let me go,” Rice, 32, said. “That’s another telltale sign of not being passionate about what I was doing.”

He took a few years off, but continued to tour and write new music, including the songs that are now on his November 2017 album with Broken Bow Records.

“This is an album that stands for what I stand for,” Rice noted. “I don’t think of myself as a country artist specifically — I’m here to be an artist, period. I’m very proud of the country genre, and I think we have some big country radio songs on there, but outside of that, there’s a story I wanted to tell, regardless of genre. I had to completely put out of my mind what anyone else would think.”

The 10 tracks on “Lambs & Lions” derive from his life and experience, triumphs and disappointments, and his determination to stand up for his convictions. Songwriting is not easy, he said.

“You gotta dive deeper or you end up with the same old [b.s.],” he said. “I had to dive deeper. I’m not looking for ‘That’s cool!’ I’m looking for ‘great.’”

Already looking forward to the next album, Rice said “the stuff I’m writing now is different than what I wrote for ‘Lambs & Lions’. It has an edgy, acoustic, folk, pop sound.”

The crooked road to country

Rice played football at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, until a career-ending ankle injury took him out of the game.

“Football wired me for the rest of my life,” he says. “It’s a focus you carry on to everything you do in life.”

After graduating from UNC, Rice was hired as a NASCAR pit crew member for Hendrick Motorsports’ 48 team of Jimmie Johnson. Then, through the encouragement of a friend, he applied for and was a contestant on the TV show “Survivor: Nicaragua,” where he was first runner-up.

“It was a cool opportunity at the time,” Rice said.

That opened the door for him to leave NASCAR and head to Nashville to follow his passion for music.

Rice said that if you come to one of his shows, you will want to go to a second show.

“I bring a lot of passion to my live shows,” he said.

(Note: On May 15, Rice tore his pectoral muscle while filming the video for “Eyes on You,” and required surgery. Three days later, with his right arm in a sling, he was on stage in front of a sold-out crowd in South Carolina and reveling in the energy of them singing the song along with him. In a news release post-show, he said that despite the injury, he is adamant that no shows will be canceled as he continues to tour. You can read more of Susan Guynn’s interview with Chase Rice at blog.fredericknews post.com.)

Chase Rice took a different road to Nashville and it wasn’t always easy was last modified: May 24th, 2018 by Sue Guynn

Anthony Hamilton is an artist who proves soul music has no expiration date. Fifteen years after Hamilton’s breakout hit, “Charlene,” Hamilton continues to find a way to be part of online conversations. He’s gone viral in singing gospel-style covers of pop songs such as Drake’s “Hotline Bling” with his backing group the Hamiltones. Hamilton’s enduring presence in the music industry reveals that people will always be hungry for raw vocals that express the heart of love and pain.

This weekend, the Grammy award-winning singer will be making a tour stop at The Event Center at Hollywood Casino in Charles Town, West Virginia, for concerts on Friday and Saturday. Hamilton will likely bring a revival if his Hollywood Casino concerts are anything like his past performances. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native gained much of his musical lessons in church. Hamilton’s albums, including his latest, 2016’s “What I’m Feelin,’” interweave sensuality and spirituality.

We caught up with Hamilton about a variety of topics before his two Hollywood Casino shows. While Hamilton is mostly known for what he does onstage, he’s also a father who is concerned about the world in which his children live.

What are you up to now?

Just coming off spring break with the kids. I’m about to start doing more spring dates. I’m waiting to see what our next move is for the Hamiltones; a few other artists that we’re excited about. A greeting card line. We’re working on a hat line. I’m just trying to diversify my brand.

There seems to be so much joy when you’re singing with the Hamiltones. How do you cultivate that joy in the midst of all the things that are happening to black men in this society?

I make the choice to be happy. I don’t only focus on what’s negative. I focus on the growth of us as black men and us as a culture. And just know that my God doesn’t make mistakes … You know, it can all be used for good. I got six boys. Three young men, and three young boys that I continue to raise and kind of show them that there’s life that they want to live.

How do you raise six boys on the road with the crazy schedule that you have?

Their amazing mom. My co-parent. And prioritizing.

What lessons have you learned as you are raising your kids?

I’m still learning every day something new. But not to just talk at your children but to listen to them … allow them to have a voice … and to be considerate.

You sing a lot about rock-bottom moments. In your experience, how did you get out of that place?

I sing about love, which is not rock bottom, but I’m not afraid to sing about the struggle and those times when things don’t seem to be as perfect as we would like. I think there is a power in knowing that even in the darkest, lowest moment, you can come out of it and create something better. I experienced it, lived it … I’ve seen people overcome it … no matter how hard it gets, we can make it out of this but it’s going to take a lot of love and perseverance and dedication.

When you were inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame, you said that you wanted to use Charlotte’sAnthony Hamilton Day to do acts of servicefor causes like early depression and homelessness. Why are these issues important to you?

Because these are the people we run into every single day. Our children face depression. They face being bullied. And everybody is one or two jobs away from being homeless and hungry anyway. If we can help people sustain the mental ability to take care of themselves by addressing early depression, we’ll be better off … It’s something simple. People want to be heard, loved, and felt.

KANSAS has established itself as one of America’s iconic classic rock bands. This legendary group has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide and is best-known for their million-selling gold singles “Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind.” The band’s career spans more than 40 years.

“Forty-five, actually,” said Richard Williams, guitarist and one of two original band members still with the band. Drummer Phil Ehart is the other. The two have been friends since high school in Topeka, Kansas.

Currently, KANSAS is crisscrossing the country on tour performing more than 90 shows a year.

“This year we’re going to back that off a hair,” said the 68-year-old Williams in a recent phone interview. “We were getting into the 90s, and that is a bit of a strain.”

Their current tour stops at The Event Center at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, in Charles Town, West Virginia. The show is set for 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets start at $50.

In 2017, the band toured to mark the 40th anniversary of their sextuple-platinum breakthrough album, “Leftoverture,” and the release of their new studio album, “The Prelude Implicit” (2016). It was their biggest headlining tour in decades, and fan reaction was so great that they released a live album, “Leftoverture Live & Beyond” (November 2017), from it.

In the years before “Prelude Implicit,” the band experienced some major changes, including the retirement of longtime lead vocalist Steve Walsh in 2014. All 10 tracks on the album were written by the band and the album was co-produced by Zak Rizvi, Ehart and Williams. Rizvi is now a guitarist and Ronnie Platt, a former technician for the band, is the lead vocalist and keyboardist who replaced Walsh. Bassist/vocalist Billy Greer, keyboardist David Manion and violinist David Ragsdale, who is essential to the KANSAS sound, round out the current lineup.

“This is definitely a KANSAS album,” Williams said. “’Prelude’ is the introduction of something. ‘Implicit’ means without question. This was absolutely a new beginning for this band.”

It was their first studio release in 16 years … but hold on: There is more music to come.

“We’re going to do another record,” Williams explained. “We’ve been working so hard the last three years.”

Band members recently traveled to a resort in Florida for five days of intensive songwriting together.

“We will start recording this coming winter,” he said.

With Walsh’s retirement due to vocal problems, the band was able to open up more of the classic KANSAS catalog in live shows.

“The last 15, 16, 17 years, our sets were limited,” Williams noted. “Steve either couldn’t sing or didn’t want to sing [some of the songs]. He had vocal struggles for a while. His voice started sagging. You hate to see somebody go. We needed to wait for him to say it’s time. Steve Walsh is one of the greatest rock singers of all time!”

Another founding member, Kerry Livgren, was the band’s primary songwriter. He wrote the iconic “Dust in the Wind.”

“He came in the studio and said, ‘I’ve got a song, but you probably won’t like it. I just want to throw it on the pile (of possible songs to record).’ He played it on acoustic guitar and on the first listen, I knew we had something,” Williams said.

The song appears on the 1977 album “Point of No Return.” The song is a meditation on Bible verses in Ecclesiastes and Genesis 3:19. In 1979, Livgren became an evangelical Christian and three KANSAS albums later, he left the band.

While the “Leftoverture” tour featured the more obscure, deeper cuts from KANSAS albums for the “hard-core fans,” the current tour features the hits — the classics that even the casual KANSAS fan will know. This tour will continue through 2020, he said.

“It’s all the songs you heard on the radio, MTV, Don Kirshner … songs that were in the top 100 that are familiar to everyone,” Williams said. “We’ve never done a tour like this before.”

All the years of touring with KANSAS has not been, as some people think, a scacrifice, he said.

“I always wanted to do what I do,” Williams said. “There’s no sacrifice to this. I just happen to be one of the lucky ones.”

After 45 years, KANSAS carries on in iconic KANSAS style was last modified: March 7th, 2018 by Sue Guynn

The following is written by the fabulous Sue Guynn and it appeared in this week’s edition of 72 Hours. Enjoy!

Country singer Martina McBride is known for her contemporary country sound and hard-hitting songs including “Independence Day,” “A Broken Wing” and “Concrete Angel,” and songs for “the girls,” like “In My Daughter’s Eyes,” “My Baby Loves Me” and “This One’s For the Girls.”

But this fall, McBride is sharing the joy of the coming Christmas season with the “Joy of Christmas Tour.” Bursting with music of the season, the tour will stop for two shows at the Event Center at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, Hollywood Drive in Charles Town, West Virginia, at 9 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday. You must be 21 or older to attend. Tickets are $75 and $95 each for either show.

This is the fourth year for the Christmas tour and the first after taking a break from the tour for a few years.

“It’s my favorite thing to do,” said McBride in a recent phone interview. And it takes a lot of coordination to schedule rehearsals, song selection and the sets, but, she said, “This year felt like the right time to do it. There’s a lot of rehearsals, we have a whole band with four string players and four singers.” Oh, and McBride will have six costume changes.

“This show is all Christmas,” she said, with performances of songs from her “White Christmas” album, pop holiday songs and hymns — “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Silent Night,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Let It Snow” … they’re all part of her show.

Visually, it’s a Christmas treat, too, with decorated trees and scenic video backdrops. “It’s a beautiful show to watch,” she said.

McBride released the “White Christmas” album in 1999, her fifth studio album. The track list includes “Do You Hear What I Hear,” “The Christmas Song,” “Silver Bells” and “O Holy Night.”

She’s working on a new album of Christmas songs. “It comes out next year,” she said. It’s more of a classic Christmas, with a 32-piece band and orchestra. “No hymns,” she said, “more of an Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra style.”

McBride is also working on a second book. Her first book, “Around the Table,” released in 2014. It came from her passion for cooking and entertaining.

“I wanted [‘Around the Table’] to take some of the intimidation out of [entertaining],” she said. “It has suggestions for organizing and ideas for decorating and some great, simple recipes.” Photographs for the book were shot at her home.

She is working on the second book, this one with simple recipes, like chicken and sausage gumbo — a Christmas Eve favorite at the McBride house. The cookbook is due out in 2018, too, she said.

The “Joy of Christmas Tour” wraps up Dec. 22, and then it’s home for the holidays with family. Her three daughters are now 22, 19 and 12, and not one of them is interested in following in their parents’ footsteps in the music business. McBride’s husband, John, owns Blackbird Studios. “Nope, no interest,” she said. “I want them to find their own dreams and their own passions.”

The Event Center “Joy of Christmas” show, she said, will put you in the holiday spirit.

“It’s definitely a fun show.”

Martina McBride bringing ‘The Joy of Christmas’ to Charles Town was last modified: December 7th, 2017 by Colin McGuire

Max Weinberg is a modern-day drumming legend. Gaining notoriety as a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, he also served as the drummer on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” and “The Tonight Show” when O’Brien briefly took it over. Now, as Springsteen heads for Broadway, Weinberg is taking his human jukebox on the road, allowing the crowd to pick the set list in real time as the concert unfolds. Among the stops on that tour will be in Charles Town, West Virginia, at the Hollywood Casino on Saturday. We recently caught up with Weinberg to talk about his career in television, the difference in drumming between him and his son Jay, and why he still drives himself from city to city.

Before we get into the tour, I wanted to get your thoughts on the recent passing of Tom Petty. Did you know him at all?

I did and it was a terrible shock to read about his very, very sudden death. I can tell you that he was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in the music business, a really lovely guy, really down to earth. I can visualize myself standing with him at his concert at the old Meadowlands Arena in the hallway and he was real friendly, really down to earth. Obviously, he was a phenomenal talent and he’s the same age as me, 66, so … it’s a big loss. It’s been a sad month or so, with Las Vegas and Florida and everything.

I’m glad you brought up Las Vegas because the issue of security at concerts now is at the forefront of the conversation. Has this been something that’s always worried you, or is this something in the last three to five years that even the idea that someone can do this at a concert now — it’s new territory, isn’t it?

Well, I think the issue of concert security was brought into focus with the tragedy in Cincinnati with The Who, back in the late ‘70s or early ‘80s with the stampede. The idea of security in large open spaces is something that I don’t think has ever been lost on anybody who participates. Whether it’s a stadium or a field or what happened in the club in Paris, in your wildest nightmares, you would never think that a mad man that would perpetrate such instantaneous carnage. There are really no words, only to say that the feelings you feel for the people at the concert and their families, and the horror — as a drummer, my job has always been to get people off their feet, dancing, and a concert has always been a reason to get away from the real world for a couple hours. Then, to have reality strike you so brutally and so suddenly … we’ve had fireworks at shows and that’s exactly what it sounds like. It takes your brain time to process what exactly is going on. Is it part of the show? You don’t really know. It’s just an unspeakable, unthinkable act. It seems endemic and it’s a horrible tragedy.

You’re going on tour now and you’ll be out for pretty much the rest of the year, right?

Yeah, I’m delighted to be playing with what I call Max Weinberg’s jukebox, which is audience-only requests. The audience creates the set list. It’s been really wild and a lot of fun. It’s not really a concert, it’s a party. With Bruce and the E Street band, in Europe several years ago, people just started bringing signs asking us to play songs, 90 percent of them Bruce songs. That was always a fun part — he would run out and collect these signs and we would play a couple songs in the middle of the set based on these signs. Then people started bringing signs asking us to play other people’s songs. This idea came about after we finished “The River” tour in February in New Zealand. I took about a month off, and when I take time off after a long tour like that, I REALLY take time off. I just sleep. Your body decompresses. When you’re on tour, even when you’re not playing, you’re always in a heightened state of adrenaline-ization, I call it. Four hours of playing three or four times a week is both physical and mental. So, I took a lot of time off and then my manager called me up and said, “What do you want to do next?” I said, “I want to sleep some more! Why?” He came up with this idea and I said, “Wait a minute. What you’re talking about sounds like a human jukebox — the audience picks the set and it’s different songs every night.” So, we developed the idea for that and debuted in Chicago in April and it was a huge success. People loved the idea. At that time, we put together a short static video board of songs that people could pick from and now we have two huge revolving scrolls of 400 songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s — stuff I learned how to play as a kid. We have a repertoire that includes 90 Beatles songs and we play about 40 songs a night over the course of close to two hours. This is a very up close and personal show. I go out into the audience and ask people where they’re from and what song they want to hear. It’s not formal at all; it’s a party. A reviewer described me as a cross between Dave Clark and Dick Clark.

Do you get a lot of Bruce requests?

Yeah. We play a number of Bruce tunes. There’s generally a volunteer who wants to come up and sing and I’m happy to oblige. They get to sing and I get to play the drums as I played them on the record so they have a memory of singing while the guy who played on the record is playing behind them on the drums. We played to a packed crowd at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park at the end of August and there was a lot of that. At the end, we must have had about 50 people surrounding us onstage for this type of singalong. That’s the type of thing that’s likely to happen. Last week, we had Nils Lofgren, who lives in Arizona, come up and do a bunch of Bruce songs with us. There’s always surprises and you never know exactly what you’re going to get. It can go from Chad & Jeremy’s “A Summer Song,” to ACDC’s “Highway To Hell,” all played with commitment and respect for the music.

Are there any songs you would not play?

No. The job of a drummer, in my experience, is you gotta know how to play everything and if you don’t know it, you need to know how to fake it. The other night, we were in Arizona, and someone yelled out “Rock And Roll” by Zeppelin. I had never played that song. In fact, the guys in the band had never played it, either together or on their own. But you’ve heard it a thousand times. So, I told a little story about the drum intro, which was taken from the Little Richard song, “Keep A Knockin.” Then I looked around and go, “Fellas?” And they go, “Yeah, we can play that.” So we played it and killed.

Your son Jay is the drummer in Slipknot. What if somebody yelled out a Slipknot song? Would you guys play that?

That’s where I draw the line. I can’t play that. I am amazed every time I hear or see my son play that. His interest in Slipknot began when they made their TV debut on the late-night program, I think in 1999. If you can imagine that band, and me sitting five feet away off-camera. I thought they were great and really entertaining. I ran home and told my son, who was 9 and a dedicated goalie in hockey and he hadn’t played an instrument at that point. He was starting to get into music, and I said, “This band was really great; if they ever come around here, we should go see them.” So, a few months later, I took him to Ozzfest and Slipknot was on the bill. We got to meet them and he loved it. Whenever they came around, we’d go see them, and I think that’s what sparked his interest in playing an instrument. I could play maybe two bars of “The Devil And I” or “The Negative One,” which Jay played on, but I couldn’t get further than that. That is hard conceptually and that’s hard to play. So, my hat is off to my son. I’m very proud that he won the “Modern Drummer” readers’ poll as best metal drummer this year.

I read that you always used to drive around with your drum kit in your car in case if any opportunities to play came up. To you, what makes a good drummer? How do you define a good drummer?

That is a true story — I did carry my drums all the time because you never knew. My idea was that once my young, teenage bands broke up, I wanted to be a freelancer. What makes a good drummer to me is the ability to drive the band. To be a commanding presence. And above all, to keep good time. I think the only drummer that was ever hired to do a drum solo was Buddy Rich. You’re there to support the band, to make the transitions, particularly in pop music, from one section to another, and to lend your creative voice, but in a structured way. There are rules, and you gotta learn those before you start to break the rules. I also have a five-piece hard-bop band and it’s a completely different style of drumming. Almost every song, you’re doing a solo and you have to have a different vocabulary than when you play rock. I don’t consider myself a jazz drummer, but you know, I played one on TV (laughs). But, to answer your question, time, time, and time. That’s what a drummer is supposed to provide.

You had the opportunity to step out as a bandleader, most famously, with Conan O’Brien. I read that you once said being the drummer in a “Tonight Show” band would be the most ideal job and then you kind of ended up getting that job. Was it the most ideal job?

Well, I did say that in an interview, shortly after I became the bandleader and music director of “The Tonight Show.” I had never been on TV, except for one time, I sat in on the short-lived Dennis Miller show. It was a whole new experience for me and it came at a wonderful time in my life because the E Street Band had broken up, I hadn’t been playing a lot and my children were young. For 17 years, I was able to be home every night, so I loved that job. It was a great time. It was stressful like any job where you have to be spot on all the time. But it was a comedy show, and I really enjoyed the people and going into my bit to make people laugh or to enjoy the music. My model for that band was Doc Severinsen, dressing up, playing everything we did small. Paul Shaffer, my dear friend, changed the landscape when he brought rock to late-night TV. So, I wanted to go the other way — a big band approach. It was different at the time and then a few years after we debuted, the swing dance craze happened and we were playing that kind of music. So, I guess we tapped into something and it became a hook, it became a gimmick. One of the high points for me was when I saw my name in the same sentence as Doc Severinsen, having been one of, at that point, six individuals who had become the bandleader on “The Tonight Show.” It blew my mind.

You’re in your mid 60s. Do you ever plan to retire?

No, I don’t think I’ve ever met a musician who wanted to actually retire. Frank Sinatra retired for about 15 months. I never have any downtime. My first love, of course, is playing with the E Street Band and actually, over the last 14 years or so, we’ve played a lot. More than we’ve ever played. But it’s never like we plan a tour. It’s very ethereal. Fifty percent of my drumming work is in private events. This jukebox idea is efficient because it’s two guitars, bass and drums. It’s fun because I love playing Beatles songs. Or a Manfred Man song. Or an Eagles song. The list is endless. But no, I never think about retiring. One of my great role models is Roy Haynes, the drummer who is, I think, 93, but he plays like he’s 23. I mean, I still set up my drums.

Wait. You don’t bring out a drum tech with you?

No. I drive myself from job to job. I’ll fly if it’s more than three or four hours. I played in Pennsylvania about a month ago, and I drove to West Virginia, so I had the car. And a couple fans surrounded me in the parking lot after the show. They looked at me and said, “What? You’re driving yourself?” I said, “Of course! If it’s good enough for Chuck Berry, it’s good enough for me.” I’m very proud to get my drums up and get them the way I want them. Of course, when I’m with Bruce, a very, very talented guy helps me out with that stuff, but that’s the most mechanical thing I could do. I’m very happy to be a beneficiary of the comfort that Bruce and the E Street Band affords us all, but I subscribe to what Frank Sinatra said when asked what his favorite places to play were — a night club with 500 people or a stadium with 50,000. He said to the woman, “Hunny, they’re all 50-dollar dates.” You do your best no matter where you are.

A Q&A With Max Weinberg was last modified: November 2nd, 2017 by Colin McGuire

The following is written by the fabulous Sue Guynn and it appeared in this week’s edition of 72 Hours. Enjoy!

Randy Houser started off the month of October with his first European tour playing shows in London. The month ends with a one-night only show in Charles Town, West Virginia.

Such is the life of a country artist.

“It was fantastic!” Houser said in a recent phone interview of his London tour. “It’s wonderful to be able to expand your horizons a bit. Country music is growing and expanding there.”

It was a busy couple of days across the pond but Houser and his wife, Tatiana, were able to hit some of the tourist-y spots on the last day, seeing Big Ben, Parliament and the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

Charles Town may be “slightly different” than London, he said. “But I’m excited to be coming back [to Charles Town].”

Houser returns to The Event Center at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, in Charles Town, for one show at 8 p.m. Saturday. Ticket are $60 to $105 and you must be 21 or older to attend.

He racked up three consecutive No. 1 hits with his album “How Country Feels,” including CMA Song of the Year-nominated “Like a Cowboy.” Other hits include “How Country Feels,” “Runnin’ Out of Moonlight,” “Anything Goes,” his first Top 5 with “Boots On,” and “Goodnight Kiss,” which is the first No. 1 he wrote and recorded. He’s been a co-writer on hits for other artists including Trace Adkins’ “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” and Justin Moore’s “Back That Thing Up.”

Houser added a fourth No. 1 to his catalog with “We Went,” from his most recent album, “Fired Up.”

While that album was “pretty good,” Houser admits he was not all that fired up about it. “I’m glad that album cycle’s done,” he said. “I didn’t have the time to write like I normally do.” It released in 2016 and it had been three years since his last album.

“Now I’m working on the next album. I’m a lot more excited about this project,” he said. “I’m in the studio now. We’re still recording it.” No release date is set, but he hopes it’s early 2018.

“’Fired Up” had a little more modern sound than I’m used to. I found it wasn’t my thing,” he said. “It wasn’t very successful, although we did have a No. 1 on it.

“I’ve moved on and am ready for the next project,” Houser said. “We’re testing new songs (at live shows). A great gauge is to go out and play them. Some go over great, some are scrapped.”

He said the next album will have more of a rootsy sound; “It’s not a big party album,” said the 41-year-old Mississippi native.

“Music has to grow with you,” he said. “I said, ‘Hey guys, I’m not going to be a 20-year-old pop star, and I’ve got a little more wisdom now’.”

Houser joins friend and fellow singer/songwriter Jesse James Decker in the lead single from her album, with both releasing Oct. 13. The song is “Almost Over You,” featuring Houser.

“We’ve been friends for 15 years. When she first came to Nashville, we wrote songs together. We’ve just been friends ever since,” he said. “She had this song she really liked and needed someone to sing with her. She asked me so I was glad to do it.”

Back to “Fired Up.”

This 17-track album features five songs co-written by Houser. It may not have a sound he’s comfortable with, but he pulls it off flawlessly with his soulful voice. Some of the songs are a bit reflective, like “Back,” looking back at life and seeing if you measured up — “Did I fill my boots with every step I made, Did I walk all over my daddy’s good name, Am I gonna see the me I was born to be from where I’m at when I look back”; and “Little Bit Older” a here’s to the good times and being “a little Budweiser” song.

Several of the tracks were co-written by his best friend Dallas Davidson (“Mine Tonight,” “Lucky Me,” “Fired Up,” “Gotta Get You Home” and “Same Ole Saturday Night”). You can add brother-in-law to those relationships. In May 2016, Houser married Davidson’s sister-in-law (they are now married to sisters), Tatiana Starzynski.

They met through Davidson and his wife when Tatiana came to the States from Australia for the birth of her nephew. “It was love at first sight,” Houser said. “She’s my best friend.”

Houser has a son, 5-year-old West, from a previous marriage. “He’s in kindergarten and doing very well. He’s just a blast, just a fun guy,” he said. “He’s a little reflection of me.”

Randy Houser is fired up for Charles Town concert was last modified: October 26th, 2017 by Colin McGuire

The following is written by the fabulous Kelsi Loos and it appeared in this week’s edition of 72 Hours. If you dig, you can follow her on Twitter here. Enjoy!

For Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, it’s always been family first.

The couple, who will bring their We Live For Love Tour to Hollywood Casino in Charles Town, West Virginia, on Friday, have been recording together since 1979 and have been married since 1982.

“This is the only way we know how to be a couple. It’s kind of like breathing … We’re each other’s best friends,” Benatar said in a phone interview, comparing the experience to having a Siamese twin.

Benatar and Giraldo have 19 Top 40 singles under their belts, such as “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” “Love is a Battlefield” and “We Belong.”

They toured with their children until about five years ago when their youngest daughter turned 18. The couple would plan their calendar around the children’s school schedule, Benatar said, so they wouldn’t miss class.

“We never toured without them when they were little,” she said.

They made time for quiet family life, helping their daughters with homework, going to soccer games and theater performances in addition to being a four-time Grammy winning rock act.

Now that their two daughters have grown and no longer come on tour, the road experience has come “full circle,” Benatar added, with she and Giraldo on their own.

“This is a very delicate dance that we’re very adept at doing after all of these years.”

In light of her longevity, Benatar is rightly considered a pioneer for women in rock music. She was one of the first female artists to appear on MTV with the video for 1980’s “You Better Run.” For her own part, however, she sees herself as one piece of a larger women’s rights movement already in progress when her career took off.

“I was the perfect age for all of that to take root,” she said.

While Benatar said she respected women rockers who came before her like Janis Joplin and singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez, she primarily set out to emulate the artists she enjoyed listening to who happened to be men.

“I didn’t want to be the girl singer in the band. I wanted to be the band,” she said. “I wanted to sing the songs that the guys would sing. … What I was looking for was to be Mick Jagger or Robert Plant.”

When asked how she’s kept playing music fresh throughout her decades-long career, she said that although traveling can get a little tiresome, the performance aspect of touring simply never gets old.

“Every day is a different set of people, so it’s not that difficult to keep it going all the time,” she said.

She and Giraldo have a set of hits dubbed the “Holy 14” they play at just about every show, so to shake it up, she said they have considered doing a set of relatively “deep cuts” like “Too Long a Soldier,” “Little Paradise” and “Heat of the Night.”

Benatar and Giraldo have sold more than 26 million albums, according to publicist Emily Noto, including the multi-platinum “Crimes of Passion.”

The couple that plays together, stays together: An interview with Pat Benatar was last modified: September 14th, 2017 by Colin McGuire

Note: The following was written by the great Sue Guynn. To follow all her coverage on the local country music happenings, head over to her blog, Three Chords and the Truth.

Multi-platinum selling country music icon Clint Black will be at the Event Center at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races for two shows: 9 p.m. Friday, March 31, and 8 p.m. Saturday, April 1. He has topped the charts with nearly 25 No. 1 hit singles including “A Better Man,” “Like the Rain,” “Killin’ Time,” “Nothin’ But the Tailights” and “When I Said I Do,” which featured his wife, actor Lisa Hartman Black. In September 2015, Black released his first new studio album in a decade, “On Purpose.” He wrote or co-wrote all 14 tracks, produced the album, played guitar on it and recorded it in his home studio in Nashville. The first single is “Time For That.” I caught up with the country music legend by email.

Sue Guynn:I watched some online clips of you from interviews and #clintQandA. It was fun! You have a good sense of humor. I have three brothers and they were always clowning around. Did your sense of humor come from growing up with four brothers?

Clint Black: Hey Sue, thanks! Three brothers, actually. But the whole family was good with the humor. We had fun with each other. We’re all very different from each other but we know how to make each other laugh.

I have always been a fan of myriad comedy styles and really enjoy making audiences laugh. I feel I have a lot of the pioneers to channel when I’m reaching for something funny.

SG: How about the musician/songwriter in you. Is there a family history of musicians?

CB: My mother’s side of the family was musical. Her father, and his father (my great-grandfather) came over from Sicily playing violin in an orchestra and stayed when the others went home. Two of my brothers and I inherited the genes.

SG:25 years since “Killin’ Time” released. Wow! I remember it! And the speed of your life picked up radically, right? Looking back on that time, what are some of the special memories you have from the early days of your career?

CB: Things were moving quickly. I had so many great moments — one after another — it’s hard to think of just a few: “Tonight Show” with Carson, Bob Hope specials, Haggard special guesting on my tour, writing with him, Buffet, Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, working with George Jones, with Buck Owens … So many things that were beyond what I would have imagined.

SG:I’ve read about quite a few male country artists who wanted to be professional athletes before they “discovered” music. What about you … did you have a career track in mind before music? What jobs did you have before your “big break” in music came along?

CB: I was in construction work before I made it. I worked in small bars for about 10 years before I got my record contract.

The only other thing I really wanted to do was join the Air Force and work my way into the space program. That would’ve been a longer shot than the moon shot! I didn’t have the grades for that, so I clearly made the right choice.

SG: Songwriter, singer, musician, actor, “Celebrity Apprentice” alumni … what other opportunities do you have a hankering to pursue? How about writing a novel?

CB: With my love of comedy, I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to do some of that. I have some things in the works, but nothing at a point worth mentioning yet.

SG: What kind of dad are you (tough or laidback)? Lily is about 16, right? Dating rules?

CB: Lily’s almost 16 and quite busy! She was telling me last night that her friends think I’m “fun” or “funny.” We do have a lot of laughs, but there are certain things that I’m very serious about; school work, hitting bedtimes, manners…

It’s tough to balance as any parent knows, but it’s my favorite task. She’s a great kid and I’d be a full time dad in a heartbeat. Lisa won that job interview though! She’s a great mom who leaves nothing to anyone but me. Absolutely hands-on.

SG:Back to the music. It’s good to hear new music from a familiar voice. I really like “Time for That” and “Summertime Song.” Always up for a roll down the windows and drive summer song. What’s the story behind those songs? Which song(s) on the album are you most excited about?

CB: Frank Rogers and I wrote “Time for That.” We wanted to capture the “busier than ever” times in which we’re living. We’re never out of reach of the text or email now, unless we turn off the smart phone.

“Summertime Song” is one of only a few I wrote without a cowriter. It was the middle of November and I just asked myself what I needed in a song at that moment and summer came to mind. Ahhh. I really felt the song gave that to me and made me feel the sun beating down on me.

SG: “Calling It News” When did you write that song? Are you a political kind of guy?

CB: I’m less a political guy and more a history buff. You can’t be one without the other, but I don’t share my politics. But I love to watch it all with an eye on history which is what tells me how to find the truth.

Hayden and I wrote “Calling It News” years ago during an election cycle. I forget which one, but it becomes fresh again to us every cycle.

SG: Self-produced, the songwriter, guitar man … What are you most proud of with “On Purpose”?

CB: I’m proud of my songwriting but most of all, the growth I’ve achieved in my guitar playing. I played almost every electric guitar part on the album and that was a huge task for me.

But I pushed through and found the parts to satisfy the producer/artist in me. And I’m very particular about instrumentation on my records. I’ve been practicing on guitar for hours, nearly every day. It has taken me years to get this far on the instrument and I’m very excited by it.

SG: I like that line from a Tim McGraw song about helping the next one in line, and I try to do that. What advice do you have for those coming along behind you, to be successful in the country music business?

CB: Take college courses on entertainment law, business administration, music theory and accounting. Also, listen to the classics in your genre. If it’s country, go back to the beginning as you would with classical symphonic music. You would have to study Beethoven, Mozart, etc

Know what’s been sung, and what melodies have been written. You have to know what has come before you to be original in any time period.

SG: You will be playing the theater at Hollywood Casino in Charles Town, W.Va, March 31 and April 1. What can fans expect to see and hear at this show? Are you a storyteller during your shows?

CB: I do share some short stories — the funny ones — but we are also trying to squeeze in as many songs as possible before our ears start to ring! We’ll be doing a lot of hits and a few songs from the new CD. We’re also doing one we recorded years ago but never released. It’s a cover song that was a huge hit decades ago.

Thanks again for your help with the show!

A Q&A With Clint Black was last modified: March 30th, 2017 by Colin McGuire

Note: In case if you haven’t noticed, there’s a tiny black box to the right of these words that links to all the music-related blogs on the FNP’s blog site. The great Sue Guynn, who writes the Three Chords & The Truth blog, often covers what’s going on at the Hollywood Casino over in Charles Town, West Virginia. And because we host The Local Playlist every Friday on WSHC in Shepherdstown – which is only a stone’s throw away from Charles Town – we thought we’d start posting her coverage here as well. Thus, behold an interview with Brian McKnight, who will be performing at the casino on Sunday. If you’d like to read more of Sue’s work, head on over to her blog. Why? Because she’s the best.

“My favorite artist to work with is me!” the R&B artist said in a phone interview. As a singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, McKnight can do it all.

The “Back at One” singer will take the stage at the Event Center at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town, in West Virginia, at 7p.m. Sunday. McKnight’s set will include some of his classics, holiday music and some new music. His current single, “Uh Oh Feeling,” was released in August, and his 13th studio album, “Better,” drops Jan. 29.

McKnight said the set will be fluid. “I always assume that when I do a concert in December, because I have two Christmas albums, that the people will want to hear holiday music. [My band and I] have been playing together so long, we can do pretty much any song on our playlist. Though we will have to dust off the Christmas songs since we only do them one or two times a year.”

The steamy video for “Uh Oh Feeling” was recently released and starts with a scantily clad McKnight in a lot of water — from swimming in an infinity edge pool to a steamy shower.

“I recently got back into shape, and I don’t know how much longer I have to show it off,” the 46-year-old said with a laugh. The concept reprises the shower scenes in the video “Anytime,” about 20 years ago, he said.

“Better” is a fitting title for the album, McKnight said. Lots of things are better in his life now, including his songwriting. With this album, he wanted to “take a retro move forward, if that makes sense. I had to take a look back at how music was and how it is now. There is very little computer-generated music on this album.” And as on all his albums, he wrote all the songs. Though he can play nine instruments, McKnight only played one, keyboard, on one song on the album.

“We spent two days in the studio and cut 12 songs,” McKnight said. “It was like the old days. It was nice recording with all the guys like it was 20 years ago. It was artist driven. Now [music] is so producer driven. It’s a guy with a console that generates the sound.”

McKnight said musical artists “need to step up and go back to making music.”

The producer-driven music has driven McKnight to semi-retire from record producing. “I understand it’s a young person’s game as far as the sound goes. I know how to play, I know how to produce, I know how to score films” — but he doesn’t want to know “how it works” now and jeopardize the Brian McKnight sound.

Neither do his fans.

Coming To Charles Town: Brian McKnight was last modified: December 9th, 2015 by fnpdigital